Bureau



(No Model.) 2Sheets-Sh'eet 1.

' 0g ERIKSON.

' B uuuu 11. No. 230,538. Patented July 27,1880.

(No Model.)

, 7V5! eases.-

0. ERIKSON. Bureau.

Patented July 27,1880.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

I? MW 5%? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN ERIKSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BUREAU.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,538, dated July 27, 1880.

Application filed March 22, 1880. (No model.) 4

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN ERIKSON, of Chicago, in the county of (Jock and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bureaus, &c.; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a bureau embodying my invention, Fig. 2,is a plan view, the top having been removed. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through line as m in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4is a horizontal section through line yy,

Fig. 3.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to the manufacture of bureaus, dressing-cases, wardrobes, wash-stands, and kindred articles of cabinet furniture; and it consists in an improved method of building up or puttingtogether the constituent parts of furniture of this class, as hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, A is the front top piece, which is rabbeted at each corner, as shown at a a, and dovetailed at its ends b b. The building up or putting together of the hureau commences with this piece, which is connected by side pieces, B B, with the back piece, 0, which is dovetailed at each end in like manner as the front piece, A. Inthis manner a top frame, A B B (J, is formed,rabbeted at its two front corners, a a, and provided with two pairs of vertical dovetails, b c b c, projecting from opposite sides. This frame is placed flat upon the floor or workbench, top side down, and the next step is to insert and secure the front corner-pieces, D D, inthe rabbeted corners a, a of frame A B B G. The sides .E E (each of which may consist of one or more pieces, paneled or otherwise) are then put in place on opposite sides of the top frame by means of vertical dovetailed grooves or mortises b b c a running vertically from top to bottom, parallel to each other, and regthe back piece or board E. The drawers (denoted by the letters F G H I) are next put in place one by one, commencing with the top drawer, F, which' is slipped in between the sides E E, top downward, and placed in this position upon the top frame, after which the front cross-piece, f, with its connecting sides and back piece, is placed in position by fitting the dovetails with'which said front piece, f, is provided, and which register with and correspond to those I) b of the top piece, A, into the vertical dovetail grooves b b of the sides E E, the rear cross-piece being provided with similar dovetails, which register with and fit into the grooves c c. The second drawer, G, is next placed in position in like manner as its preceding drawer F, and its supportingframe, which consists of a front piece, g, dovetailed at h h, a back piece, t, dovetailed at It It, and the connecting side pieces, I I, (see Fig. 4 on the drawing,) is inserted from the top of the inverted bureau down upon the drawer and secured in place, after which the next drawer, H, is placed in position, and-- so on, the bureau being built up, while upside down or in an inverted position, by inserting alternately a drawer and its supporting-fram'e until the desired number of drawers have been placed in position, when the bot-' tom frame, K, is inserted and the structure is provided with casters or legs m, when the bureau is completed by placing a marble or wood top or frame A B B O, polishing the sides and face, and finishing generally in the usual manner.

By this construction or method of building up articles of furniture of this class it will be observed that the drawers need not be fitted to the frame of the bureau or other piece of furniture which is to receive them; but the frame is built up, as it were, around the readymade drawers, thus saving labor, time, and

expense. t

In a bureau or dressing-case containing several drawers it is often a matter of considerable difficulty to fit drawers in their respective recesses with the required degree of nicety and accuracy; but this is entirely obviated by my. method, thus saving both time and labor, and consequently expense.

In the course of construction of a bureau the drawers may, of course, be inserted into the unfinished frame either from the front or back before the insertion of the back board, E; but it is obvious that their dividing-frames or diaphragms, as well as the bottom frame, K, can be inserted only from the top (the bureau being in an invertedposition) by fitting their dovetails, corresponding to those of frame A B B G, into the mortises of sides E E, and then forcing them down, one by one, upon their respective drawers and securing them in place by cleats or otherwise.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesa 1. As an improvement in the manufacture of bureaus, dressingcases, and similar articles of cabinet furniture containing drawers, the described method of building up the frames, which consists in first constructing a top frame, A B B 0, provided with two pairs of vertical dovetails, b b c c, projecting from opposite sides, next securing the corner-pieces D D and sides E E to said top frame by fitting the corner-pieces into rabbets a a made in the top frame and fitting the vertical dovetailed grooves b b c c of the sides upon the dovetails b b c c of the top frame, and finally alternately inserting between said sides E E a finished drawer and its supporting-frame, each of the said supporting-frames or diaphragms separating the several drawers being provided with laterally-projecting dovetails, coinciding with those of the top frame and fitting into the dovetailed groovesb b c c in the sides E E, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and specified.

2. As an article of manufacture, a bureau, dressing-case, or analogous piece of furniture, the frame of which is composed of parallel vertical side pieces, E E, provided with vertical parallel dovetailed grooves b e I) c, a top frame, A B B 0, provided with dovetails b c b c, fitting into said dovetailed grooves in the sides, and a series of horizontal frames separating the several drawers, each of which said frames is provided with two pairs of projecting dovetails, corresponding to and coinciding with those of the top frame, which said dovetails fit into and are inserted in the corresponding vertical dovetailed grooves of the frame-sides E E, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own 1 have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHRISTIAN ERIKSON.

Witnesses N. B. STORM, CHRISTIAN R. RASMUSSON. 

